Don't let the Middle Athletic Conference preseason polls fool you. The Misericordia University women's lacrosse team expects to finish much better than ninth in its first season in the conference.

 

“They may be underestimating us a bit,” head coach Robyn Stahovic said. “Just because we don't have many upperclassmen doesn't mean we don't have the work ethic to compete.”

 

All of the team's top scorers return from 2008. Among them are sophomore Nicole DeAngelis (65 g, 20 a), junior Shannon Tinkham (52 g, 9 a), and seniors Jamie Wargo (34 g, 12 a) and Jessy Schwenk (34 g, 22 a).

 

DeAngelis set a school record with 85 total points on her way to winning the PAC Rookie of the Year Award. DeAngelis, Tinkham and Wargo were all second-team PAC selections. Schwenk set school single season (22) and career (32) records in assists.

 

The team has some depth in the attack with sophomore returnees Camilla Hansen and Natasha Jankowski.

 

“You can't target one person on this offense,” Stahovic said. “We're going to spread the scoring around because we know our whole attack can be deadly.”

 

The defense is led by senior Kathryn Wallace, sophomore Julie-Anna Shahan, and freshmen Marysa Krause and Krista Shenk. Bri McLaughlin adds additional depth with a year of maturity under her belt.

 

The Cougars lost both goalkeepers at the end of last season in Allison Hoffer and Heather Heun.

 

Expect to see Wallace and freshman goalkeeper Katie Leardi split time in the cage as Leardi transitions to the college game.

 

“The defense is solid this year,” Stahovic said. “Mature players make a great defense, and our keepers are very mobile and aggressive.”

 

Other newcomers include sophomore Michelle Mezick and freshmen Emily Foley, Danielle Gross and Megan Hoppe.

 

Schwenk, Tinkham, Wallace and Wargo have been named team captains. They'll be expected to lead the young Cougars into their new conference, but not without a little extra preparation.

 

“Our captains have developed intuition. They know where to find each other on the field and how to score,” Stahovic said.

 

“We also draw a lot from our spring break trip to Colorado. We looked to face a different style of play and see what can be capitalized on and what needs to be tweaked. We definitely went out of the box in the way we prepared.” 

 

The Cougars are 1-1 after splitting games at Colorado College over break.